1. Field
The present invention relates generally to wireless communication, and more specifically to cellular wireless communication.
2. Background
The field of communications has many applications including, e.g., paging, wireless local loops, Internet telephony, and satellite communication systems. An exemplary application is a cellular telephone system for mobile subscribers. (As used herein, the term “cellular” system encompasses both cellular and personal communications services (PCS) system frequencies.) Modern communication systems, such as a wireless communication system, designed to allow multiple users to access a common communications medium have been developed for such cellular systems. These modern communication systems may be based on multiple access techniques such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), space division multiple access (SDMA), polarization division multiple access (PDMA), or other modulation techniques known in the art. These modulation techniques demodulate signals received from multiple users of a communication system, thereby enabling an increase in the capacity of the communication system. In connection therewith, various wireless communication systems have been established including, e.g., Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS), Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), and other wireless systems.
In FDMA systems, the total frequency spectrum is divided into a number of smaller sub-bands and each user is given its own sub-band to access the communication medium. Alternatively, in TDMA systems, the total frequency spectrum is divided into a number of smaller sub-bands, each sub-band is shared among a number of users, and each user is allowed to transmit in predetermined time slots using that sub-band. A CDMA system provides potential advantages over other types of systems, including increased system capacity. In CDMA systems, each user is given the entire frequency spectrum for all of the time, but distinguishes its transmission through the use of a unique code.
A CDMA system may be designed to support one or more CDMA standards such as (1) the “TIA/EIA-95-B Mobile Station-Base Station Compatibility Standard for Dual-Mode Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular System” (the IS-95 standard), (2) the standard offered by a consortium named “3rd Generation Partnership Project” (3GPP) and embodied in a set of documents including Document Nos. 3G TS 25.211, 3G TS 25.212, 3G TS 25.213, and 3G TS 25.214 (the W-CDMA standard), and (3) the standard offered by a consortium named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2” (3GPP2) and embodied in “TR-45.5 Physical Layer Standard for cdma2000 Spread Spectrum Systems” (the IS-2000 standard).
In the above named CDMA communication systems and standards, the available spectrum is shared simultaneously among a number of users, and suitable techniques are available to provide services, such as voice and data services.
Electronic serial numbers (ESNs), a 32 bit binary number, are currently used to uniquely identify each mobile station manufactured by the various mobile station manufacturers. In view of the proliferation of the use of mobile stations, such as cellular telephones, the ESNs may eventually be depleted and therefore, a new unique mobile station identifier was developed and standardized, known as Mobile Station Equipment Identifier (MEID) which is a 56 bit number. The MEID is one of the mandatory features in Revision D of the IS-2000 family of standards. The IS-2000 family of standards includes revisions or releases to the originally adopted IS-2000 standard identified above. Such revisions include Revisions 0, A, B, C, and D. Today, the predominant IS-2000 standard deployed is IS-2000 Revision 0 and in order for the wireless cellular operators to deploy subsequent revisions, such as Revision D, time consuming and expensive interoperability tests have to be performed to ensure that mobile stations are backward compatible with Revisions 0, A, B, and C and the network requires a suitable upgrade. However, the ESNs may be depleted before such tests and network upgrades are completed.